Said Gahl Hodges Burt, quoted in "A Pile of Rubble: After 123 Years, the East Wing Is Gone/Critics are outraged over President Trump’s demolition of the East Wing to make way for his $300 million ballroom. Others say it was time for change" (NYT).
Gahl Hodges Burt, who was social secretary for three years under President Ronald Reagan, said that tearing down the East Wing to make space for the ballroom was an unfortunate necessity, and that change was overdue. Since the State Dining Room holds only 140 seated guests and the East Room has space for 200 at most, recent administrations have taken to erecting enormous tents on the South Lawn for ever larger state dinners. Ms. Burt, a board member of the White House Historical Association, added that larger spaces for East Wing offices are “very much needed.” The White House has said that office space is included in Mr. Trump’s plans for the ballroom.
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95 comments:
This improvement has been needed for a long time. If Obama would have done the same thing, the Dems and Press would be celebrating.
These complaints are ridiculous. The government shut down is ridiculous.
The Chinese delegation was so offended the state dinner was in a tent they forced a last minute change to the East Room. Insert snark here but when we’re inviting people here to toast our relationship a tent is tacky and shows we can’t get out shit together to have a building…
Well, curing the dead grass problem will be worth every penny!
I’d like to see the architectural layout of the new addition: ballroom, bathrooms, kitchen?, offices?, entryway, etc. Also all the external views.
Are critics truly outraged about the East Wing? I would be outraged if he had altered the original structure of the White House, but the East Wing has little, if any, architectural or historical significance.
Homeless people, important dignitaries, progressives will have us all living in tents and using porta-potties.
I am waiting for a District Court judge to rule against the East Wing renovations.
123 years was its first design. It was completely remodeled and rebuilt many times since then. When the ballroom is done, it will still be the East Wing of the White House complex. It will just be bigger and grander, perfect for big balls.
Breezy: there are several renderings on the WH website.
The Left is just crying about this as they cry about each and everything that 47 does.
Are critics truly outraged about the East Wing?
I think they outraged by their impotence. They think they own the White House and can tell the people what can and can't be done with it, yet Trump is getting away with it.
Everyone posting here knows that if the political parties were reversed the reaction would be reversed. Some people are unhappy it is happening under Trump's watch, but if the United States has to set up tents to accommodate guests for state functions that's a bit of an embarrassment.
Who cares?
When a wealthy corporate CEO has his kitchen extensively remodeled, does the day-to-day work at the office still matter? You can have renovations done and STILL focus on the important business of the day. The government is shut down. All these home remodeling stories are getting too much play. People do not really care about this.
Exactly, they feel like a normal person would feel if a squatter had moved into "their house" and started doing renovations. This is because they are election deniers, of course.
Breezy said...
I’d like to see the architectural layout of the new addition: ballroom, bathrooms, kitchen?, offices?, entryway, etc. Also all the external views.
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Why? You planning a hit? No dear, we're not going to give you the building plans and all the external views. Assumption Church in Minneapolis showed you don't even have to breach the building if you're determined to kill others. We don't release detailed building plans for good reason anymore...
What do they have against "Big Balls" anyway, this is the second time they have gotten in an uproar.
Are critics truly outraged about the East Wing?
I think they outraged by their impotence.
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I think amy klobuchar and elizabeth warren are rolling tape and commenting on the "destruction" because their plans to keep the government shut down and blame it on Trump are failing.
Be honest? The D party is out of tricks. GetTrump didn't work (it got him re-elected) but they are so stupid they are doubling down. Dems are out of ideas and won't admit they caused all this pain here. They need to be out of office, and soon.
https://x.com/SenAmyKlobuchar/status/1981521469042520444
It's all a distraction from, er, the government shutdown. Yeah, that's it. The government shutdown. No, it's the Epstein files! And, um, graft, or something. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Imagine if a sniper's nest had been found near the landing area of Air Force One during the Obama Administration just a few days ago, and Trump's CIA chief had been indicted for lying to Congress about a made up scandal about Obama and Russia, would the press be screaming bloody murder about a remodeling of the White House to bring it up to date?
It's a distraction. Shutdown not going so well for Democrats either.
I wish they'd call it a banquet hall.
Is there some reason that windows, doors, slate roof tiles, etc were not saved before demolition? I’m sure they have substantial value and many museums would be able interested in exhibiting a piece of the White House. Just too much trouble I guess. Would have delayed things by couple of days.
Several years ago I was afforded the opportunity to attend an event at the US Ambassador's residence in London (Winfield House, during the tenure of Matthew Barzun). The historic mansion is indeed impressive, but entertainment exceeding 100 persons or so requires events be moved to the garden and a tent erected as an addendum. Bathroom access during those events isn't provided in the residence itself and - as in the article - must be furnished by swanky trailer-pottys which A) always had a line and B) were far from convenient for so many civilians in tuxes and military in Class A's.
It's not an ideal way to entertain, and while sufficient for people not often afforded such invitations (like myself) I can imagine it gets tiresome for VIPs that get invited multiple times to multiple soirees with the same setup almost every week.
The "People's House" ought to be more accommodating, and this latest freakout is lame as usual.
I think DJT should "sell" white bricks with buyers' names on them to build the walls of the new Donald J. Trump Big Beautiful Ballroom. MEWGA= "Make East Wing Great Again"! ROTFLMAO
mindnumbrobot said...
It's all a distraction from, er, the government shutdown.
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Do you understand how long it takes in planning before you actually break ground? This has nothing to do about distracting from a government shutdown.
It's the Dems and the press and the people like ann who want to make this issue front and center...
How do you feel about paying for the weapons so Israel can seize the West Bank too? Heh, you thought the peace plan meant we were done with Israel? They ain't done with your money. They'll have our tax dollars rebuilding their Temple yet.
But focus on the building renovations in DC. Amy and Liz are proud of you for that!
"Oh dear... where will our elite guests shit?" Let them work it out. That's not something that ever crossed my mind. We don't all need to have a say on the CEO's home renovations. Focus, people?
The Far-left MSM speaks with one voice on 90 percent of the issues, and they're all are anti-Trump. So we get gaslit and non-stop "hate trump" propaganda.
Never will they give him credit. Everything he does will be spun into a negative. Trump is spending his own money, and private money to IMPROVE the White House. He gets nothing out of it, and future Presidents will benefit.
But instead of praising him, the MSM tries to make it out like Trump is vandalizing the white house. OMG, he torn down the beloved East Wing. Y'know that jewel and historical treasure. LOL. The East wing that wasn't even built till 1942 and nobody has ever cared about.
They had some chick on PBS news hour who blathered on about how Trump didn't consult the Federal preservation society or whoever before he did this. OMG. And blah, blah. And its like who cares? But the whole point was to take something Good that Trump is doing and turn it into something bad.
…all the girls giggle when you’re pitching a tent…
I agree its banquet hall too. Its a topping and a floor wax.
gadfly approves of ladies in high heels walking in mud at state dinners. gadfly hates women.
Thank you, Beasts. No pics of full interior layout yet, but the pics there do help w exterior visualization.
To be fair, it appears outdoor tents and restrooms are how Democrats want people to live, based on what people can see in any deep blue city.
gonna be fun for Oktoberfest
And its not "the government shutdown". Its the Senate Democrat shudown of the Government. Chuck Schumer is filibustering the budget bill. He's shutting down the Government. I notice the MSM is acting like its like a natural disaster or an act of God. Or its those "people in DC" just cant get their act together.
No, its Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats. But the R Leadership is also responsible because they refuse to get rid of the filibuster for budget bills. Why should reconcilition bills need 51 votes while, individual budget bills need 60. Moronic!
If the Democrats were involved they'd have left the little East Wing building as is, but dug a cavern 4 or 5 stories deep and placed the new content underground. See the most recent Smithsonian buildings such as the Sackler Gallery, African Art museum, and African American History Museum. It would take 10x longer to complete and cost 10x more than a surface rebuild.
The West Wing also isn't impressive when compared to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building nearby. Trump has 3.5 years to go...
I've noticed the TV networks refuse to talk to Schumer about it. Instead they're always putting the Democrat House minority leader on TV. Or some other Democrat.
@jim5301 ..."Is there some reason that windows, doors, slate roof tiles, etc were not saved before demolition?..."
I agree with you. I think it's unfortunate that the structure wasn't taken down at least to offer these as mementos to people interested in having a piece of the history. But - Alas - I think it's clear that this would have afforded an opportunity for an endless litany of partisan wails filling up the airwaves, whereas this allowed things to get underway.
I also suspect that they wanted a speedy demolition because it was simply the most practical way to go about it. Remember, there's a bunker underneath all of this, and the structure above is part of that, much more than just a simple building covering it. They may have wanted a quick demolition for security reasons, not wanting too much about the structure to be disclosed to prying adversarial eyes.
"Trump's building a WH ballroom."
"What, that's outrageous."
"Trump's not building a WH ballroom."
"What, that's outrageous."
Wealthy people, glittering celebrities and internet influencers are completely used to attending fancy events in tents. Very tasteful tents with temporary flooring and HVAC systems to boot. Maybe it's mostly an American thing because we love camping and picnics. However, it's culturally insensitive to force foreign dignitaries and Centibillionaires to expose them to our rustic customs that reminds them of their poor upbringing and/or of the middle class they seek to destroy.
As one reads the basic facts of the matter, this proves out to have been -- as first suspected -- a medium tempest in the tiniest of tiny teapots.
GSA currently lists three huge office complexes for sale about a mile south of the White House, any one of which could have been flattened to build Trump's madhouse.
A large percentage of the critics don't fault the project per se, but are upset at the lack of process, protocol, and review.
But we all know that if anyone can get an urban construction job finished on time and within budget, it is Trump. Any other government project in a blue city would take years to finish, at multiples of the initial projected cost.
So I'm okay with it.
https://x.com/samstein/status/1981403811215196165?s=46&t=pOghkxSbQl2pg4CLby5nCA
@Althouse. I know suggestions for posts, but while we’re on the topic of Presidential architecture, you might want to look at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. A nice park has been destroyed to erect the brutalist building.
"Wealthy people, glittering celebrities and internet influencers are completely used to attending fancy events in tents. Very tasteful tents with temporary flooring and HVAC systems to boot. Maybe it's mostly an American thing because we love camping and picnics. However, it's culturally insensitive to force foreign dignitaries,"
I hear the Arabs with their Oil money have Tents that put ours to shame.
’GSA currently lists three huge office complexes for sale about a mile south of the White House, any one of which could have been flattened to build Trump's madhouse.’
Yes!!
‘Thanks for visiting the White House, foreign dignitaries, now let’s all hop on these awesome shuttle buses and go to the ball!’ lol
Get a grip, dude.
Howard said...
Wealthy people, glittering celebrities and internet influencers are completely used to attending fancy events in tents.
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Nobody likes shitting or pissing in small hot plastic cubicles though...
Portions of the hostile media have already dubbed it the "Trump ball room," as if that's damaging to the 47th president in a "no kings" kind of way. Watch and listen to them wail if that becomes the official name.
Steve @ 6:47 is exactly right. If the parties were reversed, etc, etc.
The fact that Trump is doing it with private funds makes all the difference, IMO. Can't imagine the Dems doing that. Any Dem who suggested it would be laughed out of the room. They'd have spent twice as much, gotten less for it and it would take 20 years to complete.
Obama spent 350+ million of our tax dollars - and what did we get?
This space will be useful and impressive for state dinners.
The left cannot help but rage.
So a day ending in y
I am personally not a fan of the gilded Trump aesthetic (though I really do like the look of the Trump building in Chicago.) That being said, having a top-tier event space like this does feel like something the US ought to have. I wonder if this ballroom will alter the power dynamics in DC. Obviously, it doesn't give any new governmental powers to the Executive branch but it does have the trappings of power and elegance. And perceptions of power often translate into power itself.
Kind of like the Pope, mitigating all controversy at the start of his new-St.-Peter's project—about what to do and how to do it with the famous, millennium-old Vatican, focus of pilgrimages from all over Europe—Pope Julius II resolved that by just tearing it down first thing.
Tents do not work in winter.
He's building something lovely., the left prefer the gutter, whining, failed socialism, drug transients, illegals, money waste and ugly.
btw - nancy and chuck can use the port-o-potties.. where they belong.
It's possible some interior trim was saved for historical and fundraising purposes. There had to have been at least some prep work: moving furniture and peoples' stuff out of offices, at least. I'm surprised that didn't cause an early leak of the total-demolition plans.
Also wondering if, given the 80-plus age of the place, there might be a lot of asbestos in there. Wouldn't there have to be a big abatement project before demolition? Or is it okay to expose asbestos to the open air, where it will quickly get diluted to negligible concentrations, as opposed to inside a closed building, where people will gulp it in? Maybe that was a reason for the rapid demo? CC, JSM
Thanks, VD. Your comment inspired me to check it out, which proved my point exactly:
While the Saudi royal family occasionally uses tents for cultural events or hospitality, modern state dinners and formal diplomatic functions are typically held in luxurious palace ballrooms and hotels. The use of tents is more in line with the country's Bedouin heritage and is generally seen at less formal, cultural gatherings.
Key locations and settings for formal events include:
The Royal Palaces: Official state events, including dinners, are often hosted in the grand ballrooms and banquet halls of palaces, such as the Royal Palace in Riyadh.
Luxury Hotels: Prominent luxury hotels, like the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, have also served as venues for royal functions and meetings with foreign dignitaries.
Cultural Events: For more traditional or cultural occasions, such as celebrating Bedouin heritage, tents are used to invoke a sense of history and hospitality.
"A 2010 CNN clip of Obama’s $376 million White House renovation, fully funded by taxpayers.
CNN on-air talent(D) - gush. Gush Gush
Big Mike said, "...you might want to look at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago."
Swankiest porta-potty I ever seen...
Oops. Time for a new hysteria. A nice banquet hall for the White House wasn't quite the terrible scandal we were hoping for.
Maybe a 3% inflation rate last month will inflame the populace into a righteous rage. But probably not. Let's just do the Epstein thing for a few more days. Something else will turn up.
It should be called The Saudi Aramco ballroom
Obama's 376 million tax payer funded renovations.
CNN gush gush gush. (in case other link does not work)
Rage and hysteria. All the corrupt left have.
Plus their D-insane base - who are addicted to the rage and hysteria.
@The Vault Dweller
@Howard
I've been in them, many times, for what Arabs call Majlis (مجالس). Very swanky, and they even decorate permanent structure interiors intended for the purpose to look like Bedouin tents.
Lots of shamshirs and jezails on the walls, and they serve green coffee (extremely light roast) that is effing rocket fuel all night which makes it impossible to go to bed.
Obama also spent a trillion dollars on 'stimulus' which dissapeared like egyptian sands
Personally, I think it is fantastic that they are constructing this on a fast track avoiding all sorts of review processes normally required by the administrative state. However it just reminds me that the Trump administration has accomplished nothing in reducing the power and influence of the bureaucracy that wages war against the average people of this country restricting their ability to build homes and small businesses and a privately fund improvements in their own small towns.
Shaun King @shaunking
"I actually think it's a great idea to build a big ballroom on the White House grounds.
It's virtually impossible to hold events of any size there and they are always wasting millions on tents and heaters and chairs and lights and everything else.
Stop acting like you have some emotional attachment to the East Wing. You don't."
RSM: that must have made you feel a wee bit like TE Lawrence
Talcum x i wondered where he had gone, (actually i didnt)
Until tents can be like the ones in the... I think it was the fourth Harry Potter movie, a tent is a stopgap.
@Howard, not really because - unlike his - my Arabic sucks. It's an interesting experience if anyone ever gets the chance to be invited to one no doubt, and you should definitely accept if so.
But A) absolutely watch out for that green coffee (roasting coffee beans reduces their caffeine content, so the lighter - or nonexistent - the roast the more powerful it is) and B) be prepared to eat with your hands (right hand only), specifically roasted lamb that is scorchingly hot which means waiting a while for it to cool if you're starving.
A disturbing culinary phenomenon in Arab countries is you'll see a lot of diners with terrible skin on their right hand from decades of using it as a utensil...even rehealed scabs from burns. Not very appetizing when your fellow diners immediately start tearing into the goat and rice pilaf with mutated right claws.
Heads of state, ambassadors, and billionaire campaign donors lining up to use the porta potties is very American and democratic. It will be a shame to lose that tradition
The new tradition of taking a dump in The Donald John will be fun in its own way, but not the same.
All the "No Kings" folks act like this is the destruction of Buckingham Palace.
Jim 5301 - Yes, I'm sure Trump would get wide praise if he started selling doors and slate roof tiles salvaged from the demo.
"Everyone posting here knows that if the political parties were reversed the reaction would be reversed."
You're only half right. The reaction of the dems would be the opposite, but Republicans would not be making a stink. The coverage of the project would be 90% positive, with most of media portraying it as symbolic of the dem administration's overall success and wonderfulness.
It is easy to spot the unserious hateful partisans with this issue.
Saving and selling off the demolition debris as "historical" artifacts/souvenirs would tend to contradict the message the WH is trying to send about the old East Wing's being historically unimportant. Mind you, Trump may end up doing this anyway, but only after the project is done or nearly done. (Just my armchair prediction, obviously.)
A lot of the complaining could be quelled if Trump re-named it the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Center for Womens' Health and Gender Affirmation of the Unhoused.
Stop making sense! Some people just want to bitch. It's what they do.
I'm no longer enjoying the daily attention of our entire nation to the ravings of TDS afflicted hate junkies. Go outside, get a job, make love, do something worthy of the oxygen you consume. Peace can flourish if you stop killing it every. single. day.
Aggie said...
"@jim5301 ..."Is there some reason that windows, doors, slate roof tiles, etc were not saved before demolition?..."
I agree with you."
Yeah, but it's kinda like getting Lincolns neighbors outhouse door as a souvenir. Not a lot of historical significance.
Using Democrat math Trump has actually saved the US Government well over $600 Million compared to Barack Obama's "improvements." And I challenge any lefty here to name , other than his famous conversion of the tennis to a basketball court, even one of Obama's improvements without internet help. Just what did he do with almost $350 Million? Do you know?
We know what Trump did. Saved America $650+ Million so far. Could be more when the negative expenses are finally tallied up. (America gets a beautiful ballroom worth $X Million)
Recent history proves this outrage is really only a Democrat thing. In the past examples, the Right didn't bitch even when they should have.
This construction by all reports is needed and appropriate. Trump’s profession was construction. I see no downside. The democrat whiners are shameful.
The idea of selling or preserving construction debris always sounds good (it came up during the initial stages of the dismantling for rebuild of the steam locomotive the historic railroad I volunteer at owns) but in addition to the problems john mosby outlined involving asbestos and other chemical contamination such as leaded paint, you pretty quickly realize what you've got is basically unidentifiable trash, and the cost of salvage, prep, and marketing the items far exceeds the few bucks most people would be willing to pay, and few if any organizations want. Easier and cheaper to just ask for a donation in return for sincere thanks. Anything of even marginally identifiable historic or salvage value was likely already removed for redisplay or reuse (I know you whiners like to think Trump is cretin but he's done this a time or two). What's left is worthless which is why it's going in a landfill.
Left Bank @8:20, sorry, man, your sounding like a thirteen-year-old girl, playing at cynicism because she has no life experience yet. I'm sure people have told you if you roll your eyes all the time they'll stay that way.
The basketball court thing always low-key bugged me - how often were we planning to elect a president so young that it'd be useful? The tennis court could at least be turned into a pickleball court. And the former swimming pool? That would've been a great way for future presidents to stay in shape without joint stress. But no, Nixon thought press access was more important, the fascist.
A large event space doesn't serve Trump's personal needs the way the basketball and tennis courts and swimming pool do/did. But you won't hear the lefties acknowledging that. Sigh.
The right bitched about Obama's projects, but they didn't have the megaphone.
Also, Obama was spending taxpayer dollars and not getting much for it, so at least some of the bitching was totally justifiable on those grounds.
re: porta potties
photos of anyone coming out with paper-tail-trail?
The journolist augmented by twitter
What's left is worthless which is why it's going in a landfill.
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why not use to reclaim \swampland/?
Those porta-potties were cramped with an attendant in there.
TEACHERS and CRITICS all dance the poot.
As if on cue, the left cannot resist attacking anything associated with Trump, even if what is being done, has in some ways been done by others, especially other Democrats.
There is so much that Trump is doing, both here at home and across the globe, that any journalist spending his or her time on this looks impossibly small and insipid to me at this point.
He's doing a renovation on the old building. Giving it something it has needed forever. And something every following administration can use. It's a banquet hall. An event space befitting the Head of State. The very people who applauded the pulling down of statues of famous Americans are suddenly finding their love for Americana with the White House?
I suspect they feel bad for President Jed Bartlet who loved that old building.
And the former swimming pool? That would've been a great way for future presidents to stay in shape without joint stress. But no, Nixon thought press access was more important, the fascist.
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I think he knew about all the young women Kennedy was fornicating with poolside and rightly concreted it over...
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